World Soccer

Andrew Yates (AFP/Getty Images) Defending champion AC Milan and Chelsea reached the Champions League knockout stages on Wednesday. Milan edged into the second round with a 1-1 draw with Benfica and Chelsea advanced with a 4-0 victory at Rosenborg. Milan still went through because Celtic scored a last-minute goal to beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 in Glasgow. Didier Drogba scored [...]

Giuseppe Cacace (AFP/Getty Images) Inter Milan, FC Barcelona, AS Roma and Sevilla all advanced to the second round of the Champions League on Tuesday. Inter, Sevilla and Roma advanced with wins, while a point against Lyon was enough for Barcelona. The four teams join Arsenal and Manchester United in the next round. United is the only team in [...]

Russell Cheyne (Reuters) Sir Alex Ferguson was sent to the stands as his title-chasing Manchester United side crashed to their first defeat since August via a 1-0 loss at Bolton. Ferguson was unhappy at Bolton Wanderers’s physical approach and got into a row with referee Mark Clattenburg. United fell behind to Nicolas Anelka’s eighth goal of the season [...]

Luigfi Vasini (AP) Juventus went second in Serie A after a 5-0 demolition of Palermo on Sunday. Serie A’s top scorer David Trezeguet bagged his 11th of the season when he hooked in Nicola Legrottaglie’s knock back before Vincenzo Iaquinta scored at the second attempt on 41 minutes. Substitute Alessandro Del Piero scored with a trademark second half [...]

Manu Fernandez (AP) Barcelona put a troubled few days behind them with a laboured 3-0 home win over lowly Recreativo Huelva, Saturday. Edmilson’s criticisms of the lack of commitment of some of his team mates had dominated headlines before the game, and it was far from the reaction coach Frank Rijkaard had hoped for early on.

Adrian Dennis (AFP/Getty Images) England needed only a tie at Wembley to make next year’s European Championship. The English couldn’t do it, losing to Croatia 3-2 on Wednesday. After Israel had given England a lifeline by beating Russia at the weekend a point was all they needed to pip the Russians to second spot in Group E.

Andre Penner (AP) Luis Fabiano scored twice to give Brazil a fortuitous 2-1 win over Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday after the visitors had taken an early lead and dominated the game. Sebastian Abreu gave Uruguay an eighth-minute lead before Luis Fabiano equalised in the 44th minute and snatched the winner midway through the [...]

Mauricio Duenas (AFP/Getty Images) Argentina lost their unbeaten record in 2010 World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday. Colombia took advantage of a first-half red card for Argentina’s Carlos Tevez to win their match 2-1.

Andreas Schaad (AP) The cast list for Euro 2008 will be completed on Wednesday with England, Northern Ireland and Portugal among those nations scrapping it out for one of the four remaining places. It will be something of a surprise if England, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey fail to advance to next year’s tournament in Switzerland and Austria.

Dolores Ochoa (AP) Kaka produced another superb strike to help Brazil draw 1-1 away to Peru in Sunday’s World Cup qualifiers. Kaka scored with a 30-metre shot which dipped and swerved away from Peru goalkeeper Diego Penny to give the five-times world champions a halftime lead in Lima before Juan Vargas equalised in the second half.